Trust is one of the essential factors in being successful in the business industry. When a business acquires the trust and loyalty of its customers, sales and success naturally follow.
“You can have all the facts and figures, all the supporting evidence, all the endorsement that you want, but if at the end of the day you don’t command trust, you won’t get anywhere,” says Niall FitzGerald of Unilever.
True enough, any customer wouldn’t buy from a store or do business with a brand they don’t fully and personally trust. After that trust is built, loyalty follows suit. To grow your business, especially online, you need to do business in such a way your customers will trust and stay loyal to you.
When a brand or business already established its trustworthiness, people will automatically:
- Recommend it to other people (83%),
- Avail and use its products and services frequently (82%),
- Search for it every time they want something (78%),
- Give its new products or services a try (78%), and
- Pay more for its products and services (50%).
According to a research by North American Hutrust, there are six drivers that can be correlated with brand trust: stability, innovation, relationship, benefit, vision, and competence. To harness brand trust and encourage customer trust and loyalty, here are practical ways you can put to test:
#1 Never compromise the quality of your services or products.
One of the factors that can draw in customers to do business with you is the quality of your products and services. You must never compromise the quality of the products or services you’re selling no matter what. Quality attracts customer trust and loyalty.
Always make sure that you’re serving your customers with only the best products and services.
#2 Put a premiere on top quality customer service.
Invest in quality customer service representatives. Your customer service team can make or break a sale, a potential customer, and more. If customers experience poor service from you, they are most likely to stop buying from you – worse, they will tell others about it.
Customers are looking for service representatives who care about them, address their concerns promptly and courteously, and those who make themselves available.
#3 Be honest with your reviews (whether positive or negative).
According to an article in Practical Ecommerce, product reviews and feedbacks help shoppers make important buying decisions – whether the reviews are positive or negative. A feed that’s only filled with outstanding reviews can be questionable for customers.
Deal with negative reviews politely. Negative reviews, when dealt properly with great customer service, can yield positive results. It can also build trust and authenticity.
#4 Share useful, valuable, and relevant content.
Providing your customers with free content that’s relevant, useful, and valuable to them such as articles, video tutorials, digital magazines, and the like can boost customer trust and lifetime value. People are most likely to trust someone knowledgeable in their business.
Have an in-depth research about your customers to determine the type of content they’ll be interested in. The right type of content will attract the right type of people.
#5 Develop a rewards or loyalty program for your customers.
Besides quality products and services, a rewards or loyalty program can also be another reason for your customers to turn into loyal patrons. But you must make sure that your rewards or loyalty program can provide value and make a difference in your customers’ lives.
These rewards may be in the form of freebies, exclusive privileges, special discounts, and more.
Consider practicing the above tips to gain the trust of your customers. As you give them your top-quality products and services, loyalty will be returned. Then, conversions and sales will naturally follow. Make customer trust and loyalty a priority starting today!
